By Antoinette May Herndon

Did you think spring would never come? Rain, wind, snow, GLOOM! Talk about the winter of our discontent! But for members of Main Street Theatre Works, the weather was particularly onerous. For the first time in its 15-year history, the theatre company was forced to postpone the opening of its premier summer show, “A Flea in Her Ear.”

With a raucous story line involving numerous doors and a spinning bed, the construction crew needed extra time to complete sets and hang lights. You can’t do that in the midst of a downpour. Remember rain? A month or so ago we had a lot of it.

The good news is that the play’s run at Jackson’s historic Kennedy Mine has been extended through July 23rd. How fortunate, for everyone. The Main Street Theatre Works is a professionally-oriented, local theatre company performing both classical and contemporary plays. Throughout the years, they have been consistently nominated for regional theatre awards, winning the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance's award for Best Production (Comedy) four out of the past five years.

Perhaps they have another winner on their hands. The current play, a Belle Epoch farce, centers around a flighty French matron who doubts the fidelity of her husband when he become sexually inactive. She confides her fears to an old friend who suggests a trick to test him by writing a letter from an anonymous

admirer, requesting a rendezvous at the Hotel Coq d’Or, a notorious establishment with a large and prominent clientele. The good wife plans to confront him there.

The gates of the theatre grounds open at 6:30 and picnics are encouraged. Charles and I selected a very nice bottle of Kendall-Jackson’s 2009 sauvignon blanc, a vintner’s reserve marked down from $15 to $10, at Raley’s and picked up a pizza ($15) at Teresa’s.

Pizzas made in Teresa’s new European ovens are assembled to order. What delight to discover that anchovies could be added to ours. Am I the only one in the whole world who loves anchovies? Apparently. Few pizzerias include them. Since Teresa’s pizzas are made to order anyway, I’d suggest asking ahead for additional cheese and a thicker crust. Our medium combination was a little short on both.

The Kennedy Mine Amphitheatre is a perfect venue for outdoor productions of all kinds. It’s always a bit of a thrill to stroll past the historic tailing wheel, cross the bridge and settle into the intimate tiered seating nestled among the oaks. Maybe you’ll see wild turkeys or bunnies, once I spotted a deer.

But when the play began, I was off in another world, a romantic, long ago place peopled by characters with names like Camille and Etienne, Lucienne and Raymonde. Georges Feydeau’s plays are convoluted and silly but that’s the whole idea. A contemporary critic once referred to

his plotlines as “jack-in-the-box constructions.” The description seems particularly appropriate for “A Flea in Her Ear” which contains a sequence requiring the cast to change their entire stage set in two minutes and six seconds. The actors accomplish this to the music of Offenbach’s “Cancan,” a fete that won an ovation the other night from an awed audience.

Feydeau was a playboy type with a table permanently on reserve for him at Maxim’s. “A Flea in Her Ear,” one of his most popular bedroom farces, has endured for more than l00 years. It turns on the misunderstandings and coincidences that were the playwright’s stock and trade. Feydeau’s Parisian theme flits from high life to low with each character beset by sexual problems of one kind or another.

The zany comedy was a hit in 1907 Paris and continues to draw knowing laughs more than 100 years later in 2011 Jackson. I wonder: Does anything really change?

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VITALS: The Kennedy Mine Amphitheatre is located in Jackson. Phone: 304-6690. Access is from N. Main Street. The parking lot is next to the Country Squire Motel at 1104 North Main street. Dress in layers of clothing for sizzling afternoons invariably end in chilly nights. Bring mosquito repellent, a low-lying chair or blankets and pillows. The gates open at 6:30 for picnicking. It’s fun to bring dinner and a bottle of wine. The performance begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17.50.